The Dallas Cowboys have lost their game and, at least for now, their quarterback.

The Week 9 setbacks were the last two of a dysfunctional season in the final year of head coach Mike McCarthy's contract.

Regular pre-snap penalties, injuries and missed tackles by the Cowboys marked a day in which the Atlanta Falcons controlled the game.

Prescott exited with 11:40 to play and the Cowboys trailed by 14 points.

He was officially sidelined with a hamstring injury, and Prescott's throwing hand also had swelling and a wound at the base of his pinky finger after a day in which he scrambled more than he had all season.

As the Falcons completed their 27-21 victory, it was also questionable whether wide receiver CeeDee Lamb would return due to a shoulder injury.

Lamb had injured his right shoulder in the first half, and his grimaces got worse in the fourth quarter after he fell on his shoulder while diving for a pass in the end zone that he couldn't quite deflect.

The Cowboys fell to 3-5 while the Falcons improved to 6-3 and maintained their position atop the NFC South.

Before injury struck Dallas, the Cowboys played a frustrating game, save for one improbable play.

The Cowboys struggled after taking a 3-0 lead. The Falcons burned them down twice on fourth down, including a 36-yard touchdown on fourth-and-3 when Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​faced off against his former head coach Mike Zimmer, the Cowboys' defensive coordinator.

Even when the Cowboys defense held, the complementary football lagged.

Veteran rusher Carl Lawson strip-sacked Cousins ​​for his first of two sacks in the first half, and Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson recovered the fumble. But Dallas' offense couldn't capitalize. Prescott faced fourth-and-one from the Atlanta 44-yard line and threw the ball to Lamb, who the Falcons stopped three yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Tensions were rising for a Cowboys team that will go more than a month between wins. Television panning footage from the sidelines showed McCarthy cursing, rolling his eyes and slamming his tablet on the ground after the play he called backfired.

Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs' feelings were similarly pronounced after Darnell Mooney scored the wide-open 36-yard touchdown while Diggs appeared to be caught between other defenders.

But Dallas found an unlikely spark before halftime. Despite a delay of game penalty that allowed second-and-15, Prescott fumbled for only the 10th time this season.

The 22 yards Prescott collected marked the longest rush of the season for a Cowboys team that ranks last in the league in the rushing game. Dallas also traveled to Atlanta without veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott, whom the team left behind in Dallas after Elliott reportedly missed several meetings. According to Next Gen Stats, Prescott added 7.08 seconds to the play before hitting running back Rico Dowdle on a play that Dowdle wobbled and then caught on his back.

Tempers calmed down somewhat, but the Cowboys' problems were far from solved.

The Cowboys opened the second half with a pre-snap penalty and were in trouble again on fourth down when punter Bryan Anger tried to pass a punt fake to CJ Goodwin, who fell.

Five plays later, Cousins ​​took advantage of the Cowboys' difficulty managing pre-snap motion and found Ray-Ray McCloud for an 11-yard touchdown.

The Falcons didn't want to give up the lead they had had since midway through the first quarter.

A touchdown from Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush to Jalen Tolbert cut the deficit to six points with less than two minutes to play, but the Falcons fended off an on-side kick attempt to secure their win.

Cousins ​​continued his strong first season in Atlanta, completing 19 of 24 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Bijan Robinson led Atlanta's talented players with 145 yards from scrimmage, although four Falcons scored besides him: Mooney, McCloud, running back Tyler Allgeier and receiver Drake London.